CCR Walks Programme Fall 2011

Join one of the Canadian Club Rome walks! These walks are a great way to get to know fellow-Canadians and get to know more about the city and its surroudings. 

All walks take place at 10 a.m. and last approx. two hours. The meeting place and time are specified for each location. To get there, check the public transport system website: www.atac.roma.it and googlemaps.com. For further information and to register, contact Olivia Ercoli (see below) before the deadline specified for booking.

Olivia Ercoli

Price for members: €10

Price for non-members: €15

Olivia Ercoli is a bilingual art historian, lecturer and writer, and a licensed tour guide with many years experience. She can be contacted by e-mail at oercoli@yahoo.com. 

Please note: Should you want to cancel your reservation please be sure to do so ahead of time as a courtesy to fellow CCR members.  

Saturday, 8 October, 2011: Museo della Civiltà Romana 
Set in the modernist EUR neighbourhood, the wonderful, if slightly eery, museum of Roman Civilization was built in 1942 to celebrate Emperor Augustus (and his modern-day epigone, Benito Mussolini). Today its unlikely futuristic setting often appears in adverts and assorted films. This museum is a must for anyone wishing to appreciate the many facets of Roman civilization. Its main feature is a wonderful model of the whole of Imperial Rome as it stood in 4th century, as well as the unique plaster casts of the column of Trajan, which you can enjoy browsing through at really close range.

Meeting point: EUR metro stop Fermi, at the crossing Viale Europa-Viale Boston

Museum address for late-comers: Museo della Civiltà Romana, Piazza Giovanni Agnelli 10

Deadline for joining this walk: Friday, October 7th

Saturday, 22 October, 2011: Villa Adriana

At a comfortable distance from bustling Rome, Emperor Hadrian built a wonderful residence for himself. 1800 years later, its remains, still partly unexcavated, form a splendid archaeological site which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Including sumptuous baths, gardens, banqueting halls, an amphitheater, and possibly a tomb for his dead lover, the deified slave Antinuous, and recreations of famous sites the Emperor had visited in Greece and Egypt, the Villa sheds some light on the life of one of Rome's most famous and most secretive of Emperors.

Meeting point: ticket office of Villa Adriana, Villa Adriana, Tivoli

Please note: car-pooling is on offer for this tour. Contact oercoli@yahoo.com, or canadarome@gmail.com for details.

Deadline for joining this walk: Friday October 21st

Sunday, 13 November, 2011: Praeneste - Palestrina

Connected to Rome by the Via Praenestina, the pre-Roman Praeneste was a flourishing hill town thanks to the horacular temple of the goddess Fortuna Primigenia. The town fell under Roman domination and paid a very high price during the civil war when the city was captured and all its male citizens were slain in 82 BC. The spectacular remains of its Hellenistic-style sanctuary are built upon the remains of the ancient city and are now surmounted by a 17th-century palace built by the Barberini family, now a museum with wonderful exhibits. 

Meeting place: TBD
Deadline for joining this walk: Wednesday November 9th (for car-pooling)

Saturday, 26 November, 2011: Lecture: Filippino Lippi and Botticelli

Imitated, admired, venerated, these two painters lived and worked in 15th-century Florence and helped to shape the way we think of the Renaissance. This lecture with slideshow is aimed at those who wish to visit the exhibition taking place this season at the Scuderie del Quirinale and is of interest, more generally, to anyone interested in the historical context in which Renaissance Florentine painting developed.

Meeting place: TBD

Deadline for booking: 20 November